It’s an honor to see that Two Dead (written by Van Jensen, art by yours truly, color by Erin Tobey) is on ALA Booklist’s Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2020! Thanks for believing in this story.
You may get copies of Two Dead from your local comics shop or bookstore, directly from me, or from Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
In light of fascist grifter Steve Bannon’s arrest for (alleged) intentional duping of the pro-fascist base, I’ve been thinking a lot about my last paragraph in the above excerpt from my essay “About Face”, written in late 2018 as the Wall Scam was launched, but also applicable to the regime broadly.
“About Face” will be released in print— stay tuned for a big announcement next Tuesday involving my next book!
The new issue of The Nib anthology is out now! This one centers around the theme of power, and includes a 7-page comic by me called “Pecking Order”, reflecting on early 2010’s warning signs about misanthropic nerds, pop culture & identity, and how fascist cosplayers were likely just actual fascists in the making.
This issue has an amazing creative lineup, with contributions by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Richie Pope, Thi Bui, Sarah Mirk, Sophie Yanow, Ben Passmore, and tons more! Order (and better yet, subscribe) here.
BONUS: “Pecking Order” was originally roughed out waaaay back in 2013, and was always intended as the second half of the comics essay “Havens Have Not” from my You Don’t Say collection. I encourage everyone to read both comics back-to-back for the full effect!
It’s an honor to announce that my graphic novel Come Again has been selected as a finalist for the Indiana Authors Award in the “genre” category!
The winner will be announced on September 1st. In the meantime, you can get a copy of Come Again from your local bookstore, your local comic shop, directly from me, your public library, or from Amazon.
Next week I’ll finally be announcing my next book (snippets of which you’ve seen throughout my social media posts since 2018)— stay tuned!
It’s been two weeks and I still can’t find the words to properly pay respects to this wonderful man— rest in peace, John Lewis.
Friend, collaborator, hero.
Thank you endlessly for trusting me to help bring your experiences and work to life through your eyes, and in your voice. The last 9 years have unquestionably been the honor of my lifetime, and I plan to continue the work, both on the page and in the streets. Here’s to the Beloved Community. Here’s to making a future worth living in for all people. Thank you from all of us.
So much more to say.
The day we met face-to-face for the first time— September 2012, just before SPX weekend.
Lunch break at Small Press Expo 2013.
Rep. Lewis and my brother Peyton. North Little Rock AR, April 2014.
Meeting my daughter in 2015.
The moment Rep. Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and I won the National Book Award for March: Book Three. November 2016.
A quick, perfunctory post amidst this massive uprising against white supremacy, police brutality, and fascism:
There’s been a massive increase in interest in my viral comics essay “About Face” (addressing the relationships between military/paramilitary aesthetic and apolitical consumer goods to normalize fascism and exploit fragile masculinity), so here’s a direct link.
Thanks to everyone at Popula for believing in this essay— and thanks to everyone who’s read it and used it to contribute to our urgent national discussion and struggles! <3
Here’s some She-Ra art I drew yesterday, after processing the series finale for a few days. Noelle Stevenson and crew made such a wonderful show— it deserves to be a generational touchstone. I aspire to make something so grand yet personal, so deeply human. She-Ra forever.
I have a new comic up at The Nib, “Hide Out”— about facing my old, romantic visions of The End as we find ourselves surrounded by the quiet, disorienting terror of unseen mass deaths, of the actual End Of Things.
This was a very personal comic to make, and I’m so grateful to Matt and everyone at The Nib for publishing it— please subscribe and support them here.
Here’s today’s quarantine drawing— Diamond Mine from Come Again, or Singer Pooping Out Entire Band.
Diamond Mine will be the central characters in my next solo graphic novel, which I’m still writing— more on that in 2021 or so!
Getting back in practice amidst the pandemic, shaking off the cobwebs— here’s a Storm drawing I did yesterday.
One of my chronic bad habits while drawing: I draw at too flat of an angle relative to the paper, which gives me a distorted view while working. Despite how pleased I was with this drawing, as soon as I finished it I realized Storm’s head is way too big.
Always hold up your work to examine it head-on, my cartoonist friends!
Quarantine fun: I made this piece yesterday as a relationship guide to the crew from Come Again and their well-intentioned, loving, super messed-up, horned-out dynamics.
I miss these characters and their world.
Here’s to the therapeutic value of making art when we’re cut off from each other. Here’s to remaining open.
After helping my kid finish organizing her school report on ocelots, I rewarded myself by drawing Silvestri-era Psylocke and Wolverine. Gotta try to keep those inking chops during this months-long lockdown.
If you don’t follow me on social media, you can find me on Instagram and Twitter.
Stay disciplined, stay isolated, and keep your eyes on the prize— we’ve gotta remove this fascist from the White House at all costs. <3
Here’s a fantasy hug. Stay strong, everybody.
I’m honored to be included as a nominee for this year’s Slate/Center For Cartoon Studies Cartoonist Studio Prize for my webcomic, “About Face”!
Hi everybody— I hope you’re doing well, maintaining your health and sanity, and most important, following the health/isolation protocols with sustained discipline. This authoritarian regime will not save us. Only we can save ourselves— and the lives of millions depend on that sustained discipline.
Please, please, please: wash your hands, cover your cough, stay home, physically isolate from other people, and keep surfaces clean. This isn’t the middle of the crisis— we’re barely at the beginning, and are facing a likely incomprehensible death toll which may reach into the hundreds of thousands in the US alone.
Love and solidarity to everyone.
***
In book news, I have a few new projects gearing up which I can’t discuss yet— but soon enough!
Last month, I finished a new book (title forthcoming with a larger announcement)— through two years of work, our social and political reality has changed so quickly that I often felt it couldn’t possibly be published soon enough to keep up.
Now, even 2019’s sense of urgency and uncertainty seems antiquated. Some passages have very meanings now (just a month later)— specifically, a central theme on the urgency of sustained physical protest in a new reality that virtually removes its possibilty.
Stay vigilant, stay mindful, think of your neighbors (in the biggest, worldly sense possible)— and we will get through this.
Here’s a 14”x9” Calvin & Hobbes piece I drew (featuring the injured baby raccoon— a storyline which profoundly impacted me as a kid), which is up for auction to raise money for San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum.
Here’s a brand new interview (originally recorded last summer) I did with the fine folks at the PBS program Articulate, just in case you wanna see me flail my hands around while I’m talking!
Bloomington friends: on Thursday, February 20th (John Lewis’ birthday!), I’ll be giving a talk/Q&A about my work at the I Fell Gallery (415 W. 4th, next to Rainbow Bakery). There will also be a one-night-only exhibit of my original artwork spanning the last two decades!
Here’s a link to the same info on my events page.
7pm, free, all as a part of the Indiana Remixed series. See you there!
(Adding this note here, because I know that a certain local crust-punk with a long history of sexual assault, domestic violence, and physical intimidation keeps tabs on me via the internet: you are not welcome at my events. Ever. Do not show up.)
